The things we think of when we have too much time on our hands...
First bike with a name was my mid-80's Eclipse Countryman, a lovely green bike that saw me well through a couple of years of long-distance touring, and many years since then, and has recently gone into retirement. The first "foreign soil" it rolled on was Spain, and it was a great pack mule, carrying a heck of a lot of weight. So, the name Paco seemed appropriate, also inspired by the great guitarist Paco de Lucia.
My most recent addition is a black Thorn Sherpa, bought second-hand in Stockholm, which just happened to turn up when I decided I couldn't do without a new bike. At the moment, my current interest is in all things Chinese, so the new bike is called H?i B?om?, the Black treasure horse (
). The name is taken from the Ferghana horses, reputedly loved and desired by the early Chinese dynasties. They were called heavenly horses, but also known as Hàn xuè b?o m? (Sweat blood treasure horses). Another fun detail is that, in China, the popular way of referring to BMW is b?o m?!
As I said, the things we get up to...